War Poems: Israel-Gaza: The First 100 Days of Carnage

German, Mimi: - Mimi German is a poet and subversive artist dividing her time between living in the wilderness of Oregon's Steens Mt. and the urban strife of Portland, OR. Born a wanderer, Mimi left Philadelphia for NY in '82 for college. It was in NYC during the Reagan Administration that her first of a few non-violent disobedient arrests occurred. After college, she joined the peace movement, Shalom Achshav (Peace Now), in Israel just before the first Palestinian uprising. Once back in the US, Mimi eaked together money through nude modeling and by street busking in Halifax and Cambridge. In 1995, Mimi headed west to Oregon where she still resides. In 1997, Mimi was arrested again, this time on Shoshone land in Nevada with the late Chief Corbin Harney protesting against a proposed uranium dumpsite.In 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disater, Mimi started an international group called RadCast which documented citizen radiation readings post-Fukushima, from around the globe. As an advocate for unhoused people in Portland, Mimi has spent years regularly testifying or shutting down Portland City Council meetings bringing attention to the needs of the most disenfranchised group of people who were dying on the streets from neglect, inclement weather, mental illness, and addiction. In 2020, Mimi, with her partner, purchased land in Southeastern Oregon in the foothills of Steens Mountain Wilderness. Here she completed her manuscript for Where Grasses Bend, Mimi's second book of poetry that began at the start of the pandemic. It was also in her high desert home that she discovered Ursula Le Guin's book, Out Here: Poems and Images from Steens Mountain Country, a book she keeps on display for visitors. Mimi had met Le Guin numerous times at the food co-op in which they were both members in Portland. Le Guin's spirit lives on in these canyons as one of the many ghost voices that you can hear in the songs of the Star Dance. Mimi's poetry is published internationally. In 2023, Mimi was honored with the title of State of Oregon Beat Poet Laureate.